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By
Steve Pike,
PGA.com Senior Writer
04.21.2003
03:14 pm (ET)
Spalding Sports Worldwide has begun shipping its inaugural Ben Hogan by Bettinardi putters, which the company debuted at the PGA Merchandise Show in January. The Hogan by Bettinardi putters, designed by noted putter designer Bob Bettinardi, will be available in four series: the Big Ben putter, X Series, X-A Series and CC Series.
Spalding signed Bettinardi to design its Hogan putter line to compete in the fast-growing world of custom puttermaking -- a world Bettinardi helped popularize, along with Titleist putter guru Scotty Cameron and David Mills, who does most of the design work these days for his father's T.P. Mills line of putters for Mizuno. TaylorMade-adidas Golf last year joined the fray with its Rossa line of putters and Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) had tremendous success last year with its White Hot 2-Ball putter.
Each of the Hogan by Bettinardi putters, according to Spalding officials, is 100 percent precision milled from one solid piece of metal. Bettinardi's signature Honeycomb Finish, they said, is applied to each putter vertically by a jeweler's tool to the face of the putter to assure the flattest possible surface.
The Big Ben line (suggested retail price $200) features what Bettinardi said is a new alignment style with a five-point sole. The putter is the only one in the line that comes in standard length shafts, belly shafts and long shafts; the X Series (SRP $270) features a proprietary new metal; the X-A (SRP $330) Series features an aluminum insert; and the CC Series (SRP $400) includes carbon steel with a golf plated copper insert.
The X Series, Bettinardi said, features a combination of six materials including copper, brass and aluminum.
"When we machine this putter, this X material affords me the opportunity to (machine mill) the putter correctly," Bettinardi told PGA.com. "Everything is done the right way.
"That?s the beauty of it. Just like the Hogan irons. Each one is done one at a time at the Hogan facility in Ft. Worth (Texas). That's why I went with Hogan and not another company," he explained. "I really felt comfortable with the way Hogan was going to go as far as the quality was concerned. Overall, it's going great and it's going to be a fantastic alliance in the future."
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